‘Why I’m launching a book on quality and standards’

Dr. Paul Angya is a lawyer and scholar with specialty in standardisation and consumer protection laws. He holds a doctorate degree in Law and writes as often as time permits him. In February this year, President Muhammadu Buhari named him acting director-general of the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), a job he is settling quite well into. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, he talks about his new book on Standardisation and Quality Regulation in Africa, his readiness to make changes in SON, and life as a family man.

DR. PAUL Angya, the acting director-general of Standards Organization of Nigeria, SON, is a man of many parts. Apart from being a PhD holder in law and a scholar of international repute, he is also an author and a writer.

In his latest book entitled Standardization and Quality Regulation in Africa: Institutions and Legal Framework, which will be presented to the public in Abuja this Tuesday, he addresses those salient issues that border extensively on safety and quality standards and what needs to be done to make the general public aware of their rights as consumers and patrons of such products.

Speaking on the real essence of the new book and what the general public stands to gain from it, he said the book, which was completed two years ago, only got out of the press last month, due to delay by the publishers. He said: “The book is basically a product of my PhD research. When I joined SON in the year 2000 and was immediately thrown into the international arena of standardization in Africa, I saw the need to look into this topic. It happened that I was appointed an adviser for African Regional Organization for Standardisation. In my capacity as the legal adviser of that organization in Nairobi, Kenya, I was required to attend most of the meetings of standardization committee on the African continent”.

Having interacted with so many people from across nations and continents and having discovered a yawning vacuum in the area of information pertaining to standardisation, Angya said he thought it wise to pay attention to this theme.

“Because all the bodies on the issue of standardisation both in Asia and Africa belonged to that organisation, it became pertinent to look into the overall issues that concerned all of us. The work involved travelling around and the meetings hold from country to country every year. And then, of course, I was required to advise the secretariat of the body in Nairobi, Kenya. I was working closely and then I realised that there was a lot of unknown about standardisation and quality issues with specific attention to Africa. I also realised that most of the challenges most Africans had with entrenching standardization within African nations stemmed from the fact that there was shortage of information in this regard.”

It was clear from Angya’s perspective therefore that standardisation was basically understood in the abstract. Indeed the public could not bring it to bear in their everyday lives. And so whenever the issue of standardisation was brought up, most people thought it was some kind of scientific jargons far removed from their reach and knowledge. He said it was as a result of this that the need to write to simplify this for the public became germane.

“These difficulties prevented most of the African nations from implementing serious standardisation issues. As for me, this was a big challenge. I now knew and realized that a lot of work needed to be done in this area.”

Essentially, the book was written to encourage people to realise the need to go for quality products and insist as well that it is their rights to be given products with high quality standards. “People needed to be told how to identify quality products and how and where to get such. In practical terms, it is a book with information dossier on quality control, standards and so on.”

In creating and developing this sort of literature to assist an average consumer, Angya ensured that the book was written to appeal to all and sundry. He was not unmindful of the fact that readers need to be told in simplest format the whole essence of standardisation. “It is so, for I also felt it was time to take standardisation to the level of possibly teaching it in schools, starting from the earliest stage to tertiary institutions. If you bring it to this level, probably at this earliest stage, it may be made more popular and known to the people,” he said.

According to the acting director-general whose primary concern is about people becoming custodians of their own lives, “This book will help to change the mentality of people, so that they begin to demand and insist on quality products. I tell you, part of the challenges of what we do is not only that people buy and bring in sub-standard products, it is that people are willing and freely accepting these sub-standard products. People do not complain either. But this does not happen elsewhere. Elsewhere, if people buy products that are not good, they take them back to the source and insist on some rights.”

All these gave Angya, who from his undergraduate days at the University of Lagos had always dreamt of the day he would embark on something noble for the public, the impetus to embark on this project. At the University of Jos, where he got his PhD, this theme became a model, a reference point of sorts.

“In Europe, you have a common market, one common standard… It is actually the standard that facilitates the common market in Europe, not the other way round. One standard that is accepted in the 28 countries of Europe is good for everyone. But in Africa it is not the same. There is no communality in the products we produce and consume and this is why we need to teach our people,” he insisted.

Angya thus reiterates that the idea of presenting the book to the public is to help disseminate this information to the generality of the people. It is also to see how the information can trickle down to the grassroots. At the moment, he submits that not so much is known about quality standard and what to do to handle the issue in this part of the world.

Angya is also concerned about how to harmonise the rules and regulation on products in Africa. “This is one of the best ways to get down to the root of the matter and solve the problem. This unification of standards is for the good of all. If this is done, Africa can then have one common market and it makes things easier for everyone.”

Being the first book on standardisation in Africa, it is imperative that a lot more should be done by the people involved in this sector to use its recommendations to ameliorate the sufferings of consumers at the hands of producers and marketers. Be it in Nigeria, or in Africa as a whole, people need to be told about the ills and dangers of sub-standard products, which they unfortunately consume day-in day-out.

The book also takes a cursory look at four countries in Africa to situate the problems in their proper perspectives. These include Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Malawi.

Other side of Angya

Enough of his book and product quality and standardisation. Angya also has quite a reputation as a family man. Despite his tight official schedules and international trips, he still finds time to be with his family and considers such times his most peaceful.

“I find my peace whenever I am with my wife and children,” he enthused. “Apart from trying to build an institution that will survive me, I also pay special attention to the issue of the family. For instance, I have five biological children and about ten others I personally take care of. My idea of a family is to give the best to the people under my care, have time to play and discuss with my wife and those God has put in my care.

“In my relationship with people, I am fair but firm. I hate to tell lies and whatever I told you in the morning is what I’ll also tell in the evening. My word is my bond. I have a lot of time now, even when I am most busy, to be with my family. Before now, we were not staying in the same city. But all that has changed now.”

A product of a polygamous home, Angya, however said his policy of one man, one wife is incontrovertible. “No, I won’t follow in the footsteps of my father who married eleven wives and had over thirty children. That was in those days, for his time and profession. It is not obtainable anymore and I cannot do that now.”